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Dungeon Runners Review

Posted by geek-woman on January 23rd, 2007

Dungeon Runners is going to be a free action RPG online game. It is brought to you from the makers of Guild Wars, Lineage II and City of Heroes, NCSoft. They have created a new revenue model that is said to resemble some of the Asian MMORPGs made in the last couple years. You can download the client and play for free. “Members” pay $4.99 a month and can equip better loot in the game. It is a good quality MMORPG that is accessible and fun. It has almost everything that you would expect to find in some games that you pay $50 for and another $15 a month. Paying members get an improved inventory and they are able to stack their potions together to take up less space.

Game-play

You get to play as Fighter, Mage or Ranger. Some of the game play elements like spells seem rudimentary. The game is pruned back to just the essentials but it doesn’t detract from the overall appeal of the game. You choose your character and go out into a very Diablo-like world. The main game-play focuses on killing lots of enemies with spells, or swords, pole arms, and oversized two handed weapons. You descend into dungeons and fight monsters. You grab as much sparkly loot as you can carry and teleport back to town. The names given to items is very funny too. “Cardboard Sword of Thumping” The weapons’ properties have funny speed ratings such as “Grandma”, or “Freakin’ Fast” and “Ludicrous”. There are dangerous dungeons, you battle ferocious and some what annoying monsters and there are the amusing weapons, and artifacts. You can play alone or join with online friends to form your own party. The dungeon always refresh, which provides limitless re-playability.

At this time, Dungeon Runners accounts are a limited commodity, the only way to gain access to Dungeon Runners is to be referred by a current player, and to have a PlayNC master account.

Graphics and Sound

The graphics are very good. They aren’t as detailed as the ones in Guild Wars. but the characters don’t look as vague as the ones in Dungeons and Dragons Online, or as chunky and undefined as the ones in World of Warcraft. There is a limited amount of faces and hair to choose from. It is likely that they will increase these as time goes on, and offer more with the optional subscription fees. One of the best things about the game is its sense of humor. The NPCs talk to you and sometimes have amusing voice acting.

Marketing Efforts to Women

If statistics can be believed, women like to play online games that are free. There are female avatars available to play in the game. The outfits aren’t very revealing. For now the game isn’t a big fashion show like some of NC Soft’s other games. Women will enjoy this game if they are new to MMO’s, this is a good way to get started. If you enjoy the sword and sorcery genre then this game is worth checking out.

Conclusion

Overall Dungeon Runners looks good, so far and the best part is that it will be Free! It is additive and there is little difference between this game and others that cost you the standard $50 to purchase. If you were a Diablo fan then you might be interested in this nostalgic MMO. I give it a score between “good” and” very good” and call it “pretty good” with a 7.5.

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I'm Geek Woman, a freelance video games journalist and author.I write honest game, and gadget reviews and editorials. I interview women in the games industry, female gamer clans, and gamers. I provide articles about women in video games, as well as technology, physics and phenomenon. Grab my RSS Feed, follow me on twitter.com/geekwoman Note : Unless mentioned otherwise,all games I review are rented from Gamefly.